Controversial gig in August | Why Scooter are playing in Putin’s annexed Crimea

This summer, just like every other year, electro-band Scooter with their frontman H. P. Baxxter will play for their fans in numerous European countries. The tour will lead the band to Finland, Sweden, Poland, and also Ukraine.

What’s shocking is that Scooter intend to play in Balaklava, of all places – a small district on the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia.

In March 2014, Crimea was annexed by Russia, violating international law. More than 50 000 people fled from the occupying forces. Germany and the entire EU raised sanctions against Russia that are still in place today.

As of December 2016, the United Nations (by a decision of the general assembly) officially consider Russia as an occupying power of Crimea, and not its legal owner.

Seven artists and groups will perform at “ZB Fest”, a festival established under Russian occupation in 2016 by a local winemaker. Six of them stem from Russia – the seventh is Scooter.

The festival artists. The organisers did not succeed in hiring any European musicians besides ScooterFoto: Scooter, ZB Fest

Since earlier this week, numerous Ukrainian media have been reporting – some of them in outrage – about Scooter’s scheduled appearance.

Interestingly, Scooter’s participation at the festival only became known in Ukraine when a Russian lawyer saw a poster announcing the event at Simferopol airport, and took a picture. The lawyer had travelled to Ukraine to defend his client – a Crimean Tatar politician who had been held as a political prisoner in Russia for months in 2016. The Muslim minority of the Crimean Tatars is systematically supressed under Russian occupation.

BILD also talked to Scooter manager, Jens Thele, who initiated their gig on the occupied Ukrainian peninsula. Thele also seemed completely surprised: “We were not aware of entering a political conflict here. Our music is entirely apolitical, and we want to keep out of political issues. We have been visiting Ukraine and Russia since 1995 and have many fans there who look forward to seeing Scooter.”

However, Scooter’s management can’t have been completely unaware of how politically complicated that gig is. On the Scooter homepage, for the show in Balaklava, the country is not mentioned – in contrast to all other tour dates outside of Germany.

Scooter’s management decided not to mention the country in which Balaklava lies (Ukraine!)Foto: Scooter, ZB Fest

This is no coincidence. Manager Jens Thele tells BILD: “We did that deliberately, to avoid any controversy and keep things neutral.”

Scooter might face up to 8 years of confinement!

For Scooter, it’s not only their good reputation at stake. Ukrainian justice also took notice of the scheduled performance.

A Ukrainian law that was adopted after the annexation states that “foreigners [may only enter] the temporarily occupied territory (Crimea, ed.) with a special permission and via the entry and exit points to the Ukrainian mainland”. This is what Yevgen Yenin, Deputy Attorney General of Ukraine, told BILD.

Scooter’s management confirmed that H. P. Baxxter and his bandmates intended to travel to Crimea on a plane via Moscow. This would obviously violate the law.

The punishment for entering Crimea without registering in Ukraine – for instance, by plane over Russia – could be severe for Scooter, the Deputy Attorney General of Ukraine explained. “Violations of the law are punished by one to eight years of confinement, depending on the circumstances.” Currently, there are already “investigations under way against several foreigners who entered the Crimean Peninsula illegally.”

Even though imprisonment is unlikely, in May Ukraine demonstrated its punishment for illegally entering Crimea. Russian Eurovision candidate Yulia Samoylova received a three-year entry ban after her concert in Crimea. Despite a threatening letter by organizer EBU to the Ukrainian Prime Minister, the country stood firm and did not allow Samoylova’s entry. The ESC in Kiev took place without Russia.

BILD learned from Ukrainian investigators that Scooter would also violate a second Ukrainian law. The “law on concert activities” provides that only Ukrainian companies can broker concerts in Crimea. Scooter’s gig is organised by a Russian event company.

The threat of confinement and the refusal to let Scooter enter the country are particularly controversial, because the band has also been asked to perform in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev this year.

Green Party politician condemns Scooter’s plans for Crimea

Rebecca Harms, Member of the European Parliament for the Green Party, has been supporting the rights of the Crimean Tatars under Russian occupation for years. She is furious.

Harms told BILD: “Scooter don’t seem to care that Crimea has been illegally occupied by Russian troops and that their gig means they side with Putin.”

Harms pointed out “that artists and civil-rights activists have been sentenced to decades of detention in Siberian prison camps by Russian-occupied Crimea.” According to Harms, the Scooter gig helps the Russian leadership “to cover up all these terrible human rights violations in Crimea”.

Rebecca Harms in the ARD tv show “Beckmann”Foto: ARD

The Member of the European Parliament, Harms, who is also a member of the “EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee”, advised Scooter to get in touch with the Crimean Tatar Jamala, who won the Eurovision Song Congest in 2016. “So they will understand how shameful and irresponsible it is when German musicians and dancers allow themselves to become the instrument of Putin – who is expanding Crimea into the biggest military base by the Black Sea. Justifying the show by reference to the fans’ interest is unacceptable.”